We on the C&L team received an email from conservative poster on the blog, which said:

"I am a conservative who spent one evening responding to posts on your blog. I mentioned then that I would support Obama if he won, even though I was supporting McCain's campaign. I feel it was my duty to send my congratulations to our next president through you and your community, since I used your forum to enter into a spirited debate. I will honor my pledge to respect Obama as our American president. I certainly intend to exercise my first amendment rights to try to persuade him and others away from policies that I oppose, but I will be respectful of him and his office. I will also reprimand others who fail to show such respect.

I do not plan to return to this site, as I got so engaged in the vigorous debate that I lost track of time, and I missed saying prayers with my kids and tucking them in that night. We have added our new president to our prayer list. I assure you, we are not praying from a sense of self-interest. We only pray that he be granted the wisdom that is necessary to successfully execute his duties in a way that leads our country to greater peace and prosperity.

I believe it is un-American to wish ill upon anyone in order to gain some advantage. I want America to reach her greatest potential; therefore, I want Obama's presidency to be the most successful in history -- until the next president is elected, whichever party that person might represent, then the next president, and so on.

Who knows -- perhaps I'll end up voting for Obama in 2012. I will remain open to that possibility.

Please share this message with your community."

So I asked John Amato if I could use that email as an intro for a post. I want to take Obama at his word, and make C&L possibly the first leftwing blog to actually try to WELCOME our conservative readers. To all our conservative readers, I’d like to know your thoughts about being a conservative, how your life has changed under Bush, what your hopes for the future are with Obama, how you think liberals could help reach out to conservatives (and vice versa) to help heal the huge gapping rift between us without either side having to sacrificing their opinions or principles. I really want to do exactly what I've been hammering on about over the past couple of years, find common ground to foster healthy debate over differing opinions.

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Glenn Greenwald reports:

Beginning last night, St. Paul was the most militarized I have ever seen an American city be, even more so than Manhattan in the week of 9/11 -- with troops of federal, state and local law enforcement agents marching around with riot gear, machine guns, and tear gas canisters, shouting military chants and marching in military formations. Humvees and law enforcement officers with rifles were posted on various buildings and balconies. Numerous protesters and observers were tear gassed and injured.

... Perhaps most extraordinarily, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now -- the radio and TV broadcaster who has been a working journalist for close to 20 years -- was arrested on the street and charged with "conspiracy to riot." Audio of her arrest, which truly shocked and angered the crowd of observers, is here. I just attended a Press Conference with St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Police Chief John M. Harrington and -- after they boasted of how "restrained" their police actions were -- asked about the journalists and lawyers who had been detained and/or arrested both today and over the weekend. They said they wouldn't give any information about journalists who had been arrested today, though they said they believed that "one journalist" had been, and that she "was a participant in the riots, not simply a non-participant."

Tear gas has also been used.

Do you think maybe that events in St. Paul would have gotten more attention already if we weren't all distracted by the Palin circus show?

Update: Amy has been released, but her two producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, are still being held.

"I was down on the convention floor interviewing delegates when I heard that two of our producers had been arrested," said Goodman. "I ran down to Jackson and 7th Street, where the police had moved in."

Goodman said that when she ran up to find out what was going on, she was also arrested.

"They seriously manhandled me and handcuffed my hands behind my back. The top ID [at the convention] is to get on the floor and the Secret Service ripped that off me. I had my Democracy Now! ID too. I was clearly a reporter."

Goodman, who was released after being charged with a misdemeanor, said that Salazar had been hurt in the face, while Kouddous had been thrown up against a wall and hurt his elbow.

"Nicole told me that as they moved in on three sides, she asked them 'How do I get away from this?' and they jumped on her."

Both Kouddous and Salazar could be held for up to 36 hours.

"One of the police kept shouting at me 'Shut up, shut up," she said. "It was extremely threatening."

Update 2: Democracy Now! reports that both Kouddous and Salazar have now been released too. (H/t Kat)

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Flying Spaghetti Monster bless Dennis Kucinich.  He's in the middle of an absolutely sisyphean task of trying to make Congress actually do their job -- one that far more Americans support than they did the impeachment of Bill Clinton -- and one that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is frustratingly and blindly ignoring, as evidenced by her stop-me-before-I-throw-something-at-the-screen appearance on The View.  

JOY BEHAR: You’ve ruled against impeaching George Bush and Dick Cheney, and now Kucinich is trying to pass that. Why do you insist on not impeaching these people, so that the world and America can really see the crimes that they’ve committed?

REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, I think that it—I think it was important, when I became Speaker—and it’s, by the way, a very important position—President, Vice President, Speaker of the House—I saw it as my responsibility to try to bring a much divided country together to the extent that we could. I thought that impeachment would be divisive for the country.

In terms of what we wanted—set out to do, we wanted to raise the minimum wage, give the biggest increase in veterans benefits to veterans in the seventy-seven-year history, then pass research for stem cell research, all of that. This week, we’re going to pass equal pay for equal work. It has been a long time in coming—pay equity. We’re going to pass legislations for product safety, for toys that children put in their—there’s an agenda that you have to get done. You have to try to do it in a bipartisan way. The President has to sign it.

If somebody had a crime that the President had committed, that would be a different story.

Have you not been paying fricking attention for the last eight years, Nancy???  What do you mean, IF???? Say it with me now: warrantless wiretapping; waterboarding, lying to Congress and the American people to illegally invade and occupy a sovereign nation that posed no threat to us, firing US Attorneys for not pursuing partisan prosecutions, outing a covert CIA agent.  And those were just ones you knew about and did nothing to stop, Pelosi.  How dare she play stupid on national television and insult all our intelligence and what this country (once) stood for?  How. Dare. She.

So it makes me love the undaunted Kucinich that much more.  He appeared on Democracy Now! and tried to spin this in the best way possible.

(T)he reason why the Judiciary Committee should hold a hearing on the impeachment itself is because there needs to be a public airing of this. So, I have a great deal of respect for Speaker Pelosi, and I think that since she made that statement on The View, there's an opportunity now for us to come forward and to lay all the facts out so that she can reconsider her decision not to permit the Judiciary Committee to proceed with a full impeachment hearing. 

Give 'em hell, Dennis.

full transcript below the fold

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Heather created this mash up of the respective coverage of Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! and Richard Engel of MSNBC of the news that Iraqi's oil fields would be opened up to foreign countries, under the guidance of US advisors: 

The New York Times reports a group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies to develop some of the largest oil fields in Iraq. The disclosure marks the first confirmation of direct involvement by the Bush administration in deals to open Iraq’s oil to commercial development. The Times recently reported the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company—Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP— as well as Chevron, are on the verge of getting no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest oil fields. In their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government lawyers and private-sector consultants provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts.

Makes clear the motive for going into Iraq, doesn't it?  And the idiots on the MSNBC report still insist that the oil will pay for the war and that it will lower gas prices someday.  Yeah, right.  With companies like Exxon Mobil posting the record quarterly profits, if you buy that, I have a bridge to sell you--cheap. 

I don't think there's a more clear example of the influence of the corporate media to disinform the general public. In fact, I would hazard a guess that if the major news outlets actually informed the public the way that Democracy Now! does consistently, we would have an approval rating for the Bush administration in the single digits.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman speaks to the winner of a hotly contested and closely watched primary challenge for Maryland's 4th District, Blue America candidate Donna Edwards. And just as important as having a solid, progressive Democrat running, Edwards' win is a shot across the bow to other Bush Dog Democrats that they should not consider their seats safe because they're in a blue district.

And I believe that those voices needed to be heard in the Congress by somebody who’s a standup Democrat who represents this congressional district. I think the voters got that message. And, you know, voters have an awful lot of things going on in their minds [inaudible]. We have a troubled economy. We’re facing record foreclosures in our congressional district, just like around the country. And we want somebody who really speaks for real change and who will make a difference in the lives of working people. And those messages came through yesterday.

The full interview and transcripts available at Democracy Now!  NOW on PBS focused on the Edwards/Wynn race earlier with their Democrats Divided episode, also available online.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

Democracy Now's Amy Goodman speaks to author Matt Welch on the subject of his book, McCain: The Myth of a Maverick. What is so striking is how this myth of being a maverick has continued long into his congressional career and is exhibited in the votes he's receiving from the anti-war crowd despite being more pro-war than any other GOP candidate.

It’s really interesting that in the primaries so far, if you look at the exit polls, among people who voted in the GOP primaries who consider themselves antiwar, anti-the-Iraq-war, and among voters who consider themselves angry at George Bush—and that’s a quote—and among independents, McCain is beating his opponents by two-to-one. If you actually look at people who describe themselves as just Republicans, McCain has not yet won a single primary. So he is basically winning the GOP primaries on the back of the antiwar vote, when in fact he would be the most explicitly interventionist president since Teddy Roosevelt, and he certainly makes George Bush look gun-shy by comparison.

Seriously, that's taking voting against your own interests way too far.

Transcripts of video below the fold. Full program and transcripts available here.

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Democracy Now! speaks with writer/director Alex Gibney about his Academy Award-nominated documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side, which looks at the torture practices that the United States used in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo by following the tragic fate of an innocent taxi driver who was tortured and killed in Afghanistan in 2002.

In anticipation of the Oscars, Taxi to the Dark Side is playing in limited release nationally. You can click here to see if it's playing near you. No word on its DVD release date.

Democracy Now's Amy Goodman interviews David Cay Johnston, author of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill) (h/t miss kitty)

Regis talks about meeting Amy Goodman on his show Live with Regis and Kelly (Dec. 19th). And that's really all there is to this but it's hilarious anyway.

Regis and Joy go to Phil Donahue & Marlo Thomas' annual Christmas party and Regis finds himself seated next to Amy Goodman, one of the most respected journalists in America -- who he's never heard of. So when he asks what she does Amy explains she has a show on PBS where she covers global events. Regis immediately finds himself feeling a touch inadequate for the conversation. In the end though the most unlikely of plugs:

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REGIS: So I went to the annual Phil Donahue/Marlo Thomas Christmas party last night.

KELLY: Yes, tell me.

REGIS: Well, it’s just a lot of fun, you know. And the violins are playing

KELLY: It’s beautiful. They have a beautiful home, right?

REGIS: Yeah, it’s a penthouse up on Fifth Avenue. Just great.................(more)

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Once again, the best place to go for discussion of current events isn't the mainstream media.  Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman allows Naomi Klein to ask former Federal Reserve Chairman about his statement that the occupation in Iraq is all about the oil and those missing billions from Iraq.

Download | play    Download | play   (h/t Heather)

The full interview is well worth your time and available on the Democracy Now! website.

Transcripts below the fold

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